Beef Brisket with Wild Mushrooms
on Nov 28, 2017, Updated Feb 20, 2024
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Just when you thought brisket couldn't get more depth of flavor, along comes a slew of mushrooms.
Whether or not you celebrate the Jewish holidays, a good brisket recipe or two is a nice thing to have in your winter repertoire. Brisket is a fairly inexpensive cut of meat that gets amazingly tender after some quality time in the oven. And it requires very little attention or care while it cooks. That’s a nice characteristic in a piece of beef. And this one is rich with a fabulous mushroom sauce, which you can make with any mushrooms you like.
This mushroom brisket is perfect for Passover, a cold winter’s day, or the first break of Spring. I like serving it with Parmesan Brussels Sprouts and mashed potatoes. Finish the meal with a rich Flourless Chocolate Cake, and pass the whipped cream.
Table of Contents
Beef Brisket with Wild Mushrooms: A hearty mushroom sauce turns a simple brisket into a show-offy main course. Perfect for Passover.
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Beef Brisket with Wild Mushrooms Ingredients
- Head of garlic – Adding 1 full head of garlic cloves to the sauce may seem crazy, but because most of the garlic is cooked in its papery skin at low heat, it will turn meltingly soft and mild as the brisket cooks. Tell your guests to squeeze out the roasted garlic from the skins and add it to their sauce. (Or spread it on crusty bread or toast, but not on Passover!)
- Dried porcini mushrooms – A combination of dried and fresh mushrooms gives this sauce a really deep flavor.
- Olive oil – The oil gets divided in this recipe. Part of it is used to sear to brisket, and the rest is used to cook the fresh mushrooms.
- Beef brisket – A 3-pound brisket is perfect for this recipe.
- Red onion – The strong, sweet flavor of a red onion mellows during cooking and is a great partner to the beef and mushrooms.
- All-purpose flour or potato starch – On Passover, you need to use potato starch instead of flour to thicken the sauce to keep Kosher for Passover.
- Red wine – Use whatever red wine you like, and plan to drink the rest of the bottle along with dinner.
- Beef broth – The base of the rich sauce.
- Thyme leaves – Adds fresh, herby flavor.
- Wild mushrooms – If you want a more subtly flavored mushroom flavor, you can mix in some sliced button or cremini mushrooms with the wild mushrooms. This is also helpful budget-wise, as wild mushrooms can be pricey. But as any mushroom lover will tell you, wild mushrooms are worth every penny.
- Balsamic vinegar – The sweet acidity of the balsamic balances out the deep, woodsy flavor of the mushrooms.
What Size Brisket Should I Buy?
The size of the brisket you choose obviously depends on the amount of people you are feeding, but also what else you are serving along with the meat. If you factor in 1/2 pound per person, and then tack on another pound or two for extra hungry guests, you will be in good shape, even if brisket is the main course. Go over bigger if you want leftovers (and why wouldn’t you?)
In this recipe, and most brisket recipes, you can use a larger size piece of brisket, and just bump up the quantities of the other ingredients proportionately. Brisket is a very flexible piece of meat as long as you cook it low and slow, so the exact measurements of onions and liquid are not so important — just keep the flavors balanced. Brisket shrinks when it cooks, so as you are assessing the size piece you need, keep that in mind.
How to Make Brisket with Mushroom Sauce
- Prepare the garlic: Preheat the oven and mince two cloves of garlic, leaving the rest of the cloves in their skin.
- Soak the mushrooms: Chop the mushrooms and reserve the liquid for later.
- Sear the brisket.
- Make the braising liquid: Sauté the onions in the same pan, then add the potato starch (or flour) and stir to coat. Add in the wine and stir. Simmer until reduced by half, then stir in the beef broth, thyme, chopped mushrooms, and their soaking liquid.
- Cook the brisket: Add the brisket to the pan with the liquid, as well as the garlic cloves. Cover and transfer to the oven to cook for 3 hours, or until super tender and falling apart.
- Cook the mushrooms: Saute the fresh mushrooms with the minced garlic. Add the balsamic vinegar to deglaze.
- Slice and serve: Add in the mushrooms. Slice the brisket against the grain and serve with the sauce and mushrooms.
Make Ahead Brisket
You can make brisket a couple of days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. Skim off any fat that has accumulated on the top, and slice the brisket before returning it to the pot with the sauce and heating it gently in the oven or on the stove.
What to Serve With Beef Brisket and Wild Mushrooms
More Dishes for the Jewish Holidays
- Chicken Marbella
- Jewish Brisket for the Holidays
- Chicken Thighs with Onions and Green Olives
- Garlicky Roast Chicken with Shallots and Potatoes
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Beef Brisket with Wild Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic (cloves separated but unpeeled)
- ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- ⅔ cup boiling water
- 4 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 1 2 1/2- to 3-pound piece beef brisket
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
- 1 red onion (halved and sliced)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or potato starch)
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1 pound sliced wild mushrooms (,any sort)
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 F. Mince two of the cloves of garlic and set aside. Separate the rest of the head of garlic and leave the cloves in their skins.
- In a small bowl, place the porcini mushrooms and add the boiling water. Let the mushrooms soak for 20 minutes, then remove them, squeeze out any extra water back into the bowl, then strain the soaking liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Chop the soaked mushrooms, and set the mushrooms and the drained soaking liquid aside.
- Meanwhile, heat a large deep pan or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the brisket on both sides with salt and pepper. Sear the brisket on both sides for about 4 minutes per side, until browned. Transfer the brisket to a large plate.
- Return the pan with the oil to medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Add the flour and stir until the onions are well coated with the flour and the flour has started to color, about 1 minute. Add the wine and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom, until the wine is reduced by half. Add the beef broth, the chopped soaked mushrooms, the strained cooking liquid, and the thyme to the pot. Place the brisket in the pot; it should be about halfway submerged. Tuck the garlic cloves in their skins around the meat into the liquid. Cover the pot and transfer it to the preheated oven.
- Cook for 3 to 3 1/2 hours until the brisket is fork tender. Remove the brisket from the pot to a cutting board with a moat and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. Let the braising liquid rest in the pot.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons in a very large skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Add the mushrooms and minced garlic, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until the mushrooms have browned, and any liquid that was released has been evaporated, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle over the balsamic vinegar and stir to release any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Skim and discard any fat that has accumulated on the braising liquid. Stir the mushrooms into the pot.
- When the meat has finished resting, cut it into slices as thin or thick as you like, across the grain. Transfer the slices neatly back to the pot and nestle them beneath the sauce and mushrooms. Serve hot. Alternately you may place the meat on a serving platter with sides and ladle the sauce with the garlic cloves and mushrooms over the top.
Some text is missing in Step 4:
Add the beef broth, the chopped soaked mushrooms, the strained cooking liquid, and the thyme to the pot and bring to a about halfway submerged.
apologies, it’s all clarified now!
Butter does not go with meat in a kosher recipe!
I changed that to olive oil, and I am so sorry! I know that perfectly well and can’t tell you why I made that mistake. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
I cook brisket bake in oven 360! Sprinkle with lots of Montreal steak spices. Cook till nice a gummy brown at bottom turning my roast several times. Than cover with water bring oven to 300 cook 1 hr to 1 1/2 hr Cover pan turn oven off leave till oven cool Take meet off refrigerat over nite. Slice cold. Nice and thin. Jus in fridge to remove fat on top.